Museum of the Moving Image Opens "The Reaction GIF: Moving Image as Gesture"

Last month, Museum of the Moving Image issued a call for GIF submissions to redditors for an exhibition that explores the animated files as a form of language. After over 100 comments and suggestions on the site, associate curator of digital media Jason Eppink chose 37 GIFs which are now on view through May 15.

"Reaction GIFs are an open form with evolving rules determined organically by the communities that use them. Many are created, deployed, and rarely seen again. But some reaction GIFs have entered a common lexicon after being regularly reposted in online communities," Eppink said in a statement. He also said that in the exhibition, "the animated GIF is understood not as an artistic medium but as an element of nonverbal communication: as performed language.” Check out a few of the GIFs below that made it into the exhibition, and head to the museum before May 15 to see the others and to learn more.